MFA celebrates the Red Sox Japanese-American connection

Wednesday

There’s no shame in jumping on board the most popular game in town. So even the Museum of Fine Arts has found a way to celebrate the beloved hometown team.

There’s no shame in jumping on board the most popular game in town. So even the Museum of Fine Arts has found a way to celebrate the beloved hometown team.

Nestled in a corner between two galleries (Art of Europe and Old Kingdom Egypt) is a small exhibit that features Norman Rockwell’s “The Rookie” (which was on the cover of the March 2, 1957, Saturday Evening Post), along with Red Sox memorabilia that includes Hideki Okajima’s 2007 World Series jersey and a ticket stub from the 2008 MLB Season Opener that was recently played in Japan.

The exhibit is titled “Rockwell and the Shinjin” (the Japanese word for “rookie”) and will be on display at the MFA through July 20 in the Upper Rotunda.

Appropriately enough, the exhibit also features an artistic rookie in Abraham Schroeder, who has been a research assistant for Japanese prints at the museum for five years. One of his pieces, a contemporary woodblock print of pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka that he made last year, is in the exhibit.

“I made it when I heard Matsuzaka was coming to town,” says Schroeder. “The entire city was buzzing about him coming. So was Japan. It was the same kind of excitement that followed celebrities in 19th century Japan who were featured on woodblock prints.”

That’s the connection the exhibit makes — merging the Japanese baseball players on the Red Sox with the museum’s collection.

“With this exhibit, I wanted to connect Opening Day with Japan,” explains curator Karen Quinn. “The Japanese collection is important part of the museum and has been called the best in the world.”

Quinn describes herself as “a lifelong Sox fan” who donned Red Sox earrings and a Sox shirt under her blazer for Opening Day.

“My grandfather was a Boston Braves fan,” says Quinn. “Growing up in Connecticut, we used to go to Fenway all the time. In fact, through some fluke, my family got tickets to the 1975 World Series.”

That’s right. The series that ESPN ranked the second-greatest of all time and the one where Carlton Fisk hit the game-winning home run in Game Six. Quinn was there.

So when the museum found out that they would get “The Rookie” on loan, Quinn was the natural person to create an exhibit around the piece.

The painting features veteran Red Sox players: catcher Sammy White (lower left), pitcher Frank Sullivan (number 18) on the bench next to outfielder Jackie Jensen, Ted Williams in the center, and infielder Bill Goodman on the far right. The figure in the upper left corner is “John J. Anonymous,” a random player put in by Rockwell.

But it’s the figure of the lanky and bright-eyed rookie in the middle of Rockwell’s painting that has captivated people for years. The model for him was Sherman Safford, a high school athlete from Pittsfield, who Rockwell picked out of a lunch line.

“Rockwell liked him because he was tall and goofy-looking,” laughs Quinn.

We tracked him down.

“I think a big, gangly, goofy kid was just what he was looking for,” laughs Safford, who is 6 feet, 4 inches tall. “He gave me his hat to wear, which was too small, and I had a jacket on that went to my elbows.”

The painting has followed Safford around since then, starting with signed copies of the Saturday Evening Post for his drill sergeant to co-workers saying they saw him on wallpaper at their local Home Depot.

But it’s the magazine’s inclusion in the Baseball Hall of Fame that still gets Safford to this day.

“My dad called me and said ‘You’ll be happy to know you made it to the Hall of Fame,’” says Safford. “I made it to the Hall of Fame before my heroes.”

Fast Fact:

Since being contacted by the MFA for this exhibit, Sherman Safford and Frank Sullivan (the only two living members in the portrait) have become e-mail pen pals.

Rockwell and the Shinjin
Through July 20
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Call 617-267-9300

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